Anemic (Warriors 84, Knicks 89)

There are limits to Stephen Curry’s heroics. The Warriors finally discovered them on Sunday night against the Knicks. Unfortunately for Mark Jackson, there are some inadequacies that even the expansiveness of Curry’s brilliance can’t cover up. After scoring 32 points on 53% shooting in the first quarter, the Warriors fell apart offensively. Over the next three quarters, they shot 24%, 36% and 29% against one of the NBA’s softest defenses. In the second half, Curry outscored his teammates 22-18. While this easily could have been a win with Lee and/or Bogut healthy, that excuse shouldn’t provide any comfort. The Warriors’ anemic offensive performances persist, and Jackson still doesn’t seem to have any answers.

The most frustrating part of the Warriors’ sputtering offense is the sense that it doesn’t have to be this way. Klay Thompson spends the first quarter penetrating at will against the Knick’s defense, then shoots 3-13 for the rest of the game on mostly perimeter jumpers. Harrison Barnes keeps shooting the same fade away that he’s missed all season long — because Mark Jackson keeps calling the same play that forces him either to face up and penetrate (bad news given his ball-handling) or step back and shoot (worse news given his jump shooting). The one Warrior with an offense game that doesn’t depend on jumpers — Jermaine O’Neal — shoots 3-4 in the first quarter, then gets only 3 more shots for the rest of the game and 0 attempts in the game’s final 15 minutes. Andre Iguodala keeps getting the ball in the paint with relatively open looks at the basket — and then passes the ball back out to the three-point line. Steve Blake gets off one shot in 12 second-half minutes. None of this is new. All of it is correctable with coaching and/or play-calling.

I’d love to know what the Warriors game-plan was for picking apart the Knick’s listless, forgiving defense. There are signs that it was good in concept, given the mix of penetration, ball movement and early offense that we saw in the first quarter. But where did that aggressive and attacking offense go? When the Warriors went more than 2 minutes without scoring, giving up a 15-0 run to close the second quarter, where was Mark Jackson to pull the emergency break and reset his team? There was one timeout called during that run: by the Knicks, with 6 seconds left, to set-up a final play that was ultimately successful. NBA basketball is a game of adaptations — forcing them from your opponents and making them yourself. The Warriors’ game-plans are increasingly brittle, liable to break with the first exertion of pressure. They’ve lost game after game like this one to opponents that at least on paper, are inferior, because the Warriors often seem incapable of putting their players in a position to play to their strengths. We’ve seen the wins against the Heat, the Thunder, the Clippers and the Pacers when the Warriors live up to lofty expectations. It’s those performances that make games like this one so inexplicable.

Would David Lee and Andrew Bogut have made all the difference? They likely would have been enough to get the Warriors a win, which would have relieved some of the pressure on Jackson. But even with both healthy, the Warriors’ offense has struggled for long stretches of the season. Lee remains a key offensive piece, but has been increasingly limited as his jumper has failed him. When he can take slower players off the dribble, he can be incredibly effective. But when he’s matched up against more athletic players with decent size, he’s a blocked shot waiting to happen. When Curry is blitzed with defenders, limiting his ability to execute the pick-and-roll, Lee has even more difficulty finding his shot. As for Bogut, other than a few one-off lobs and cleaning up trash around the basket, he remains a complete afterthought on offense. Ultimately, just because a healthy Lee and/or Bogut would have made the Warriors good enough to beat the Knicks doesn’t mean much in the big picture. The Warriors won’t have the good fortune of meeting New York’s defense in the first round of the playoffs.

As has been the case all season, there are some silver linings in the dark clouds of these games. Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green played tremendous defense against tough assignments. Iguodala held Anthony to 7-21 shooting, getting a hand in his face — if not on the ball — on nearly every jumper. Green was matched up again against a bigger player — Stoudemire — and gave up some early buckets. But as with Randolph in the Memphis game, Green dug in and adjusted to frustrate his assignment. Amare’s 15 points were far from efficient (5-14 shooting, 4 turnovers). On offense, Iguodala showed more aggressiveness pushing the ball and penetrating. While he didn’t get all the way to the rim to convert, he started getting to the line (a game-high 10 attempts).

And, of course, there was Curry. He seemed to have a lifeline every time the Warriors looked as if they were slipping under for good. I don’t hold the final botched possession against him — the Warriors wouldn’t have been there in the first place without him hitting on similar difficult looks. When the game comes down to one shot, there’s no one I’d rather have with the ball in his hands. It’s all the other possessions before that last shot where I wish Jackson would try new ways of getting everyone else on the team involved. The Warriors’ playoff opponent will be ready for Curry. But the rest of the Warriors don’t look ready to help carry the load.

Adam Lauridsen

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Ma, get Rigged his heart pills (and this ain’t even the post-season oh-fish-ally)

sartre

Lots of Dubs players stepped up – including Thompson and Iguodala with clutch shots. The much maligned Crawford deserved a pat on the back for being so hot and even making a nice pass that O’Neal or Speights couldn’t convert.

monsta

Steph back 3!!!!

Thurston Hunger

The other issue is who should Dirk be on?

As for Steph, I thought I saw him towards the end ;>

Great game…..

monsta

Er…. 2

SJ Jim

Just saw a better replay on TNT’s halftime show (Blazers-Lakers). Looked a little short, but the ball was coming down. No idea why Comcast didn’t analyze it carefully.

sartre

It was classic rope-a-dope.

Newtah

Two best last shot takers in the league: Curry and Nowitzki.

Peter Moto

they were out of time outs. with carlisle on the opposite bench, the defense has a chance to re-set with a time out and curry probably does not see single coverage.

SurfCity

Well, they’re missing two regular starters, so heavy minutes for the starters sort of goes with that.

rio kid

Duran is not bad either

Thurston Hunger

Klay’s driving really has been a big add, so has Draymond’s overall utility. AI’s emergence bodes well for the playoffs, and JO’N maybe can be used a little more gingerly over the remaining regular season games.

On the flip side. Building/surrendering building/surrendering leads is a Warriors forte but will make the playoffs very tough.

Anyways, nice win tonight. Monta really wanted to put the W’s down (I still enjoy seeing him play) and Blake is giving up the ball on offense staying too fixed up top.

Peter Moto

GS has a proprietary stake in that broadcast entity, if you were on the northern calif. feed. their producers get to chose which video gets replayed.

SJ Jim

I know. I still think they should have shown their viewing audience what happened.

playdefense

Ha, of course. It was expected, just worrisome with the back to back. I had hoped Barnes and Blake could’ve given more, but I think the dubs played how they had to in order to win. Good to take it.

dr_john

Precious, my precious. . .

Our Team

The Warriors were out of timeouts?

overton j’anthony mayo

Thrilling game. In addition to those refs, I was frustrated by the last possession. Yes, Steph hit a miracle shot, but it was a miraculously sparkling end to what was otherwise a s*** show of a possession. I know there wasn’t much time left on the clock when the possession started, but I fail to understand why it devolved into Curry dribbling around like a madman trying to get off a shot.

At the most important moment of the game, can’t we set a screen or at least have some semblance of an idea what we want to do with the possession? Jackson needs to tell the guys anytime there is a scramble, they should set screens for Curry at the top of the key. A simple high screen with the ball in Curry’s hands opens up infinite offensive possibilities–i would say the high screen for Curry is one of the most devastating offensive actions in the entire NBA.

Our big men should set high screens for Curry without thinking, it should be unconcsious, it should be second nature and their default move on offense. Barnett called for some screening for Curry during the telecast, and it should be obvious to all we need more of it. It puts the opposition big man in an impossible dilemma–show hard way up high (almost always out of their comfort zone) to stop curry’s shot and leave open our big man setting curry’s screen , or play it soft and risk letting curry get the tenth of a second opening he needs to shoot. It’s an action that destroys defensive schemes (much like the Mavs screening action with Dirk), and its a position we should be putting defenses in constantly. Especially during the biggest possession with the game on the line.

Praise be to Curry and his superhuman ability to get a shot off without any kind of plan. It worked this time…

victor soma

“The Human Bailout ” strikes again!!!! dal is essentially 4 games back of us now (with dubs taking the season series) so this game did wonders for those who thought the Dubs might not make the playoffs. Unreal shot.

SurfCity

Yeah it was good. I hate to be pessimistic, but I think it was good for the Warriors to secure this game even at the cost of heavy minutes, because this is the game they had the best chance of winning of the 2.

Now that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to try, but let’s just say I’m happy they got this one.

SurfCity

Well according to Barnett, the running around was by design. He said Curry had a shot with7 seconds left but wanted his shot to be the last shot.

… why it devolved into Curry dribbling around like a madman trying to get off a shot.

overton j’anthony mayo

It makes sense Curry wanted to shoot with no time left to ensure a tie at worst. No problems there. Still, it would be nice to see efforts to create a higher percentage shot then what he ended up making, to his credit. Chances he makes that shot again are slim though.

I missed Barnett’s comment saying it was by design. He may have purposefully passed up a look with 7 seconds left, but I don’t think there was any “design” behind that play. Knowing you want to shoot with no time left on the clock is different than saying there was a plan as to how to actually create that shot.

Thurston Hunger

A screen allows the Mavs a chance to double, which Carter was considering even with Green not setting the screen.

I was pretty sure Steph was going to take the shot no matter what after the end to the Knicks game when he threw away a pass to Draymond on a blitz double team.

Had the W’s had a timeout maybe they call and run something more elaborate. Steph afterwards said he was trying to survey the difference.,

I like the play the W’s ran twice, once where they should have won in regulation (Speights’ dunk deflected away by Marion) and then to O’Neal for the tying bucket in overtime. Both passes coming inside and courtesy of Draymond.

Mopedelic

The cherry on that cake was that the camera had Cuban right to the left of Curry’s shot, doing his body english and wearing the look of understandable consternation afterwards.

SurfCity

Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t mean it was a designed play, but a conscious thought by Curry.

El Topo

Sweet win…but where was Barnes? And Blake? Not happy with Crawful shooting so much, but this time he made most of them. Still, -11?
Dre and Dray were magnificent.

dr_john

No one forced Harrison Barnes, absent David Lee even, to take no shots, get no rebounds.

Anyone?

jsl165

And the Dirk on Klay non-call . . . .

jsl165

He was looking to see time left — and when he saw .1 his eyes just dropped.

jsl165

Not only that, but Steph had also missed the last shot in regulation. Still, his shot was looking good.

I get the benefits of high screens. But on this night, at that moment, that was about a perfect possession in my book. I was smiling throughout.

Via espn:
“Stephen Curry now has 4 go-ahead field goals in the final 24 seconds of the 4th quarter and overtime this season, tied with Damian Lillard
for the most in the league. Curry is shooting 57 percent on those
shots. He was 0-for-3 on those shots in his career entering this season.”

Durant and LeBron with 3 go-ahead field goals in the final 24 seconds of the 4th quarter and overtime are tied for 3rd on the season.

Tired

Hard to tell on the TV angle. The ball was well short anyway.

Beyond that, the Ws deserved something considering the horrendous lack of calls during the second half.
The so called block on Thompson near the end was ridiculous and there were many others. Worst reffing in a long time.

Tired

No kidding. What fool.

Thurston Hunger

On the plus side, the W’s can play like a team with nothing to lose.

On the minus, the Spurs will be a rested machine (and the W’s are going to be traveling and tired).

Two big recent wins against Western teams above .500, and doing it without D. Lee (and no Bogut tonight) is a nice accomplishment.

I’m sure Jim Barnett will bust out the adage that the W’s want to hang around until late in the game for a chance to try and steal it. And isn’t Tony Parker saying Popovichi thinks the winning streak is bad news for his team, so maybe the W’s can help fix that problem by stealing a win a late Klay drive to the hoop?

thewarriorsrule

Yea it’s frustrating to see high level play against the heat and pacers and see a lack of effort and in-game adjustments against inferior opponents against teams like Knicks. Fire Jackson